Murray has 'green light' to make a deal: Melnyk

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray received more than a contract extension from owner Eugene Melnyk on Monday.

Murray also received “a green light” to to pursue any and all trade possibilities before and after the Olympics.

“He can step up into the trade market before the deadline, to fill whatever void he thinks necessary,” Melnyk told the Citizen in an interview following Monday’s conference call announcing the Murray extension. “I told him not to hesitate to see what he can do. We can make some trades, even before Sochi, to get (players) acclimatized to Ottawa … because after Sochi there won’t be that much time.”

The trade deadline is March 5, but there’s an Olympic roster freeze in place between Feb. 9-25.

Melnyk isn’t abandoning the organizational philosophy of building through the draft and says “we’re not going crazy” in adding salaries. However, the Senators owner said if there’s a deal available for a pending unrestricted free agent, Murray is free to look at all options available.

For the first few months of the season, the Senators were trying to find another defenceman with offensive instincts and the ability to move the puck crisply out of their zone. The excellence of Cody Ceci since his recall from Binghamton of the American Hockey League has taken away the necessity of making such a move.

The Senators, like most teams, are also looking to increase their offensive potential, and there’s a need to find a proven goal scorer for centre Jason Spezza.

While the Senators are still on the outside looking in at a playoff spot, Melnyk has been impressed by the Senators’ improved play of late. They’re on a 5-0-1 run heading into Tuesday’s game here against the Minnesota Wild and have gone 7-3-2 since he publicly aired his frustration at a pre-Christmas charity skate at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“I was very nervous, I didn’t think the prospect of missing the playoffs was a possibility at the start of the season,” he said of his mid-December disappointment. “We’re playing more and more consistent every game, a lot smarter hockey. But there’s no question I had serious concerns in December.”

While there had been negotiations about Murray’s extension throughout the first few months of the season, Melnyk was looking for a stretch of success to make it official because he “didn’t want to do something when everyone was bummed out.”

Melnyk acknowledged being like any other fan, keeping a constant eye on the out-of-town scoreboard, crossing his fingers that the teams closest to the Senators in the fight for the wild card spot don’t keep pace. Before Monday’s games, only four points separated Detroit, Philadelphia, Toronto, Ottawa, New Jersey, Carolina and Columbus.

“Any one of these teams can fall apart, and any one of them can string together four or five games,” he said, believing that it will take somewhere between 90-94 points to earn a post-season spot in the Eastern Conference. “I’ve been watching and watching across the board, but we just have to keep winning and focus on that.”

As much as he wants the team to win in the short term, he said keeping Murray, Pierre Dorion and Randy Lee in the organization on a long-term basis was vital. After former assistant GM Tim Murray left to become Buffalo Sabres GM last week, Melnyk said Lee was receiving calls from the team’s prospects, concerned he would be following Tim Murray out the door.

“It’s definitely an important day, the fact that (Bryan Murray) signed for two years and another two (as an adviser to hockey operations). That continuity is a very, very important thing to have. And that stability. With Randy and Pierre, it’s exactly the same thing.”

Lee and Dorion have deals that extend to the end of the 2016-17 season.

“The currency of the NHL is not cash, it’s the development of draft picks,” Melnyk said. “Give me a (Erik) Karlsson or a (Mika) Zibanejad every couple of years and we’ll be a superstar team.”

The Senators owner is also bullish on 2013 first-round pick Curtis Lazar, who Melnyk said he “watched like a hawk” during the world junior tournament — a player who reminds him of a young Mike Fisher.

Melnyk was also hoping the improved play of the team, coupled with the stability within the front office, would boost ticket sales at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“We’re not New Jersey,” he said. “We don’t play a boring brand of hockey.”